


From The Beginning

by paladincoolcats



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bromance, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Schmoop, Teen Romance, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 15:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paladincoolcats/pseuds/paladincoolcats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis and Harry have been best friends ever since Louis' mum started babysitting 2 year old Harry when Louis was 5. This is the story about the growth of their relationship, through the ups and downs of their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From The Beginning

Louis, as a 5 year old, hadn't been very pleased when his mother had agreed to baby-sit their next door neighbor's toddler. He was an only child at the time, and hated the idea of someone younger being in the house, stealing all the attention that was meant for him.

"Are you going to be a big boy and help me watch little Harry when I baby-sit him for the first time today?" his mother Jay had asked him the first Saturday that Harry would be coming over.

"No," he'd refused, brushing his feathery brown hair out of his  blue eyes, and put down the toy train he'd been playing with so he could cross his arms over his chest.

Much later, when Harry's mother Anne had arrived at the door with the squirming 2 year old in her arms, Louis was frantically trying to stuff all of his toys into the toy chest so the new kid wouldn't try and play with any of his things.

"Thanks so much for watching him, Jay," Louis heard Anne tell his mother. Anne and Harry had recently moved into the house next to theirs, and Louis had heard Jay telling his stepfather Mark about how Anne was having to raise Harry all on her own, so she had no one to watch him while she was at work.

"It's no problem, honestly!" Louis' mother responded. "I'm sure Louis and him will get along great... and if they don't, Louis started kindergarten this year, so we should be alright on most days other than Saturday. You're off work on Sunday's, right?"

Louis tuned out the rest of their conversation after his mother had finished talking about him. Adult's could be so boring, and he had no time for their nonsense. He turned on the telly and pulled himself up onto their large leather sofa. Just as he started to get into his show of Spongebob, a small kid with dark curly hair hesitantly walked into the living room and sat down on the rug to look up at the screen.

His mother and Anne were suddenly behind him, watching the small boy who sat on the floor, "Does he speak much?"

"Not really," Anne frowned. "It's a bit worrying at times... but I know he could speak if he wanted to. I just think he doesn't feel like talking. He's actually quite intelligent."

 _Intelligent_ , Louis scoffed in his mind. _He doesn't even know how to sit on the couch!_

"I should probably slip out of here before he notices," he heard Anne whisper to his mother. "Thanks again."

His mother chuckled, "It's nothing! I'll see you after work!"

However, Harry seemed to realize the moment his mother was gone, because he twisted around as the door closed, his green eyes wide and horrified. He pushed himself to his feet, attempting to run on his short toddler legs towards the door.

Louis climbed onto his knees and watched with a raised eyebrow as the tiny curly boy tried and failed to reach for the door handle on the door.

"Your mummy will be back," Jay told the small child.

Without warning, Harry fell backwards onto his small bum and let out a loud, high pitched wail of loss. Louis clamped his hands over his ears as his mother moved into action. Stepping forward to scoop up the tiny boy in her arms and carry him over to the couch. Louis pressed himself as far away from the sobbing kid as he could, not wanting anything to do with the over dramatic being. He was in kindergarten for goodness sake, his mother left him at school every single day and he didn't even cry a little bit. Louis attempted to turn up Spongebob over Harry's wails and sobs. Eventually the boy's crying died down into sniffles, and he was once again watching the telly like he'd been before his mum left him.

Louis watched as Jay slid the young kid gently off of her lap, "Can he sit here and watch the telly with you, Louis?"

"If he doesn't get all loud again," Louis scowled at the mess of curls sitting a cushion away from him.

"I'm sure he's alright now," Jay petted the tiny child's hair. "I'll just be in the kitchen making lunch if you all need me."

And with that, his mother left the room. Louis removed his eyes from the telly to stare down the smaller boy. For a two year old he sure was tiny. As Louis examined him, Harry apparently found something on the show funny, and he let out a tiny giggle. Louis' eyes widened as Harry's smile revealed adorable dimples. He shrugged it off, turning his attention back to the show. Harry's attention however, the attention of a 2 year old, wandered off of the television and to the toy chest in the corner of the room. Louis stared confusedly as the boy clambered off of the sofa and made his way towards the toys.

Louis was on his feet in an instant, sprinting on his much faster kindergartner legs to block the younger boy's access to the box, "No! They're mine!"

Harry's green eyes widened in shock, and then he promptly burst into tears again. Louis gasped, his eyes flashing to the kitchen door as he waited for his mother to come out and scold him. He quickly spun around and flung open the lid of the toy chest, digging out a firetruck.

"Fine, fine, here!" he exclaimed exasperatedly, holding the toy truck out to the sobbing kid.

Harry sniffled, but reached out for the toy. Louis stepped forward and let the boy take it from his hand. The curly kid plopped down and began pushing it back and forth across the floor.  Louis glared down at him, angry that the boy was making him share his toys. Harry stopped playing with the firetruck for a moment, peeking up at Louis from beneath his curly locks.

"What?" Louis snapped at the kid.

Harry hesitantly stuck out a hand, opening and closing it repeatedly, as if beckoning Louis to sit and play with him. Louis confusedly stepped closer and slowly sat down on the floor with Harry. The curly haired boy lightly pushed the firetruck towards him. Louis caught it before it could roll past him on the hardwood floor, turned it around, and pushed it back towards Harry. The curly kid's eyes lit up, and he pushed it back at Louis. They continued their silent game of pushing the firetruck between one another before Louis finally felt entertained enough to speak up.

"Here," he said, holding his hand out for the firetruck that Harry was clutching. "Lemme show you something."

Harry held the firetruck out to Louis, and Louis flipped the little black switch on the bottom of the toy so that the lights on top of it would flash and the truck would make a siren sound. Harry grinned largely, clapping his hands excitedly and squirming as he reached for the toy again. Louis laughed and handed it to him.

"You're not so bad I guess," he told Harry.

Harry was prodding at the lights on top of the truck as if they were buttons, and started poking and pulling at anything he could on the truck to try and figure out how the lights and sound worked. However, he pulled on the removable ladder, and the tiny white piece popped off the truck and clattered onto the floor. Harry's eyes widened, and he looked to Louis fearfully. The little boy's already pouty lips stuck out even farther, beginning to tremble as he let out a long whimper. Louis looked at him in surprise, and then the kid buried his face into his hands and begin to cry.

"What's the matter?" Louis gasped, wondering if he was the reason the kid was crying again. "Why are you crying now?"

Harry simply cried harder reaching down to push the truck and ladder at Louis. Louis finally realized that Harry thought he'd broken Louis' toy, and that he felt bad for it. Louis quickly snapped the ladder back into place, reaching over and patting Harry's tiny hand with his larger one.

"No, don't cry! You didn't break it, see? It's okay I fixed it. The ladder does that... it comes off! See?" Louis said persistently, and Harry sniffled, examining the firetruck with teary eyes. Harry wiped his eyes with his small fists and stood to take the toy from Louis. He stared at it a moment before tapping the lights on top of it. Louis frowned, "What?" Harry huffed and flipped the toy over carefully, poking with clumsy fingers at the bottom of it. Louis reached and took the toy from Harry again whilst Harry looked at him expectantly, "You want me to turn it off?"

Louis was shocked to see Harry nod slowly. He had been wondering if Harry could actually understand what he was saying. So the older boy shrugged, flicked the black button so that the toy was shut off, and handed it back to Harry. Harry turned, and carefully for a 2 year old, placed the toy back into the chest and attempted to reach the lid.

"I'll get it," Louis offered, standing and shutting the lid for Harry. Harry patted the chest gently, and then much to Louis surprise, took Louis' hand in his own and tried to pull him back to the couch. Louis allowed himself to be led, too confused to protest. However at that moment, Jay walked back into the room.

"Lunch is ready," she stated, before spotting Harry leading Louis around, and then she chuckled. "He seems to want you to play with him, Boobear."

Louis huffed at the nickname, but Harry looked up at him through his curls and mumbled in a high little kid voice, "Boo?" 

"Oh! I bet Anne will be thrilled that he's already starting to talk a little here!" Louis' mother exclaimed happily.

Louis tried to pull his hand away from the younger boy's, "No, it's Louis. You can't call me Boobear."

"Boo," Harry repeated persistently, reaching for Louis' hand again.

"No!" Louis said in frustration, walking quickly away from the younger boy and into the kitchen. He did however feel guilty when he heard Harry burst into tears from the living room.

Jay came in carrying Harry, who was still crying into her shoulder, "Louis. Be nice to Harry. He's littler than you. You should take care of him, not be mean to him."

Louis glared down at the table, "Whatever."

"Don't whatever me, young man," his mother scolded, sitting a sniffling Harry into the booster seat next to Louis' chair.

Jay slid macaroni and cheese and apple juice in front of the two boys. Louis' juice was in a regular glass, and Harry's in a sippy cup. Louis quickly drained his cup before he even begin eating his macaroni. Louis glanced at Harry, who was gingerly, and slightly messily, eating his food with the tiniest fork ever. As Louis ate his food, he begin to wish that he hadn't drank all of his apple juice so fast.

"Mum!" he sighed. "Can I have some more juice?"

"We're nearly out, dear, just drink water," Jay told him as she washed a few dishes by the sink.

"I don't want water," Louis grumbled.

Harry, who had been listening intently, shyly offered Louis his sippy cup. Louis lifted his eyebrows, the younger boy never failing to surprise him. He honestly didn't understand babies at all, "No, that's okay..."

Jay turned around to catch Harry's small act of kindness, and she gushed, "Isn't he the sweetest?"

Louis watched as the younger boy carefully set his sippy cup in between them, as if Louis might change his mind, and continued to eat his lunch. As Louis finished his lunch, he glanced over to see that Harry had finished his plate too. Hesitantly, he asked the younger boy, "Are you still hungry?" Harry stared at Louis a moment before he picked up his plate, leaned over, and stacked it on top of Louis'. Louis couldn't help but smile at Harry's cleverness. He carried the plates to his mother and handed them to her. "Can... can Harry and I go watch the telly again?"

Jay nodded with a smile, "Of course you can, love. Let me get him out of his booster seat for you."

"I can do it," Louis said insistently.

"You sure?" Jay asked hesitantly. "Let me watch just in case."

Jay watched as Louis carefully undid the strap that held Harry in place, and then Louis slipped his arms carefully under Harry. Harry was extremely tiny, and Louis was sure that his toy chest weighed more than the little boy. With no trouble at all Louis had set Harry carefully onto his feet. Harry instantly reached for Louis' hand expectantly, and Jay smiled at her son as he sighed but took Harry's hand. The two boys walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Louis climbed onto the sofa, resuming watching Spongebob. With difficulty, Harry clambered up onto the high sofa, nonchalantly crawling into Louis' lap. Louis frowned, but let the younger boy lean back against him. After several minutes of watching the show, Louis glanced down and found Harry fast asleep on his lap, sucking his thumb. He examined the sleeping boy, deciding that he was kind of cute when he slept. His curls spilled around his face, and his baby cheeks had a pink tint to them.

Louis remained seated as still as he could while Harry slept soundly on him. Eventually, Louis let his fingers slip to the boy's curls, being as they looked extremely springy. Louis found them surprisingly soft to the touch, and he continuously carded his fingers through him. Maybe having Harry around wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. It would be nice to have another kid around to play with, after all. Louis drifted off to sleep himself, his fingers still playing with Harry's curls.

When Louis woke up again, Harry was gone. He looked around in confusion, thinking maybe the younger boy was playing with his toys again. After not seeing the curly haired kid, he wandered into the kitchen to find his mother, "Mum? Where'd Harry go?"

"His mum got off work early and came and got him, dear," Jay explained.

Louis frowned, "Is he coming back?"

"You can see him again Monday when you get home from school," Jay chuckled. "He'll be here then."

From then on, Louis became quite fond of Harry. He'd rush off the bus everyday, sprinting into the house to find the curly kid. Saturday's became his favorite, because it meant that he could spend more time with the younger lad. He found that the tiny boy, although he spoke little, could be extremely fun to play with. Louis also discovered that he couldn't play as roughly with Harry as he did with some of the boys at recess, because if he did then Harry sometimes got hurt and then Harry would cry. Louis felt horrible when Harry cried. So Louis made it his goal to prevent Harry from crying as much as possible, slowly developing a protective roll over the younger boy.

One Saturday morning, Louis was still sleepy and watching the telly on the couch, his mum was making breakfast, and Harry was dragging practically every toy out of the toy chest. Louis wasn't really paying much attention to Harry, but out of the corner of his eye he spotted Harry clambering into the toy chest.

"Hazza," he called, using the nickname he'd developed for the small boy. "What are you doing?"  Like always, Harry didn't answer, he just reached up and pulled the lid of the chest closed, shutting himself into it. Louis waited for Harry to pop back out giggling, and when he didn't, Louis slid off the couch and made his way to the chest, "Come on Harry, get out of there. We can go see if breakfast is ready," Harry still wasn't opening up the lid. Louis sighed, reaching forward and tugging on the chest. Yet, much to his confusion, the lid wouldn't open. Louis frowned, pulling harder on the lid, "Harry?" Louis wiggled the chest slightly, yanking on the lid a bit more frantically. And then a horrid thought slipped into his mind. What if Harry wasn't getting any air in there?

From in the kitchen where she was setting the table, Jay heard a blood curdling scream emit from the living room. She dropped the silverware she carried, sprinting out of the kitchen and into the living room. She spotted Louis over by the toy chest, pulling desperately at the lid of the thing and sobbing. She was at her son's side in an instant, concern in her tone, "Louis what on earth is the matter? Where's Harry?"

"Help me get the lid off! Harry's stuck!" Louis wailed, yanking at the toy chest.

Jay swiftly reached forward and popped the top of the chest off without any trouble. Harry poked his curly head out, confused, but otherwise unharmed. However, the younger boy took one look at the tears still cascading down Louis' cheeks and burst into tears as well. Using one arm to scoop Harry up and one arm to take her son's hand, she carried the confused crier and led the hysterical crier to the couch. She sat Louis down before gently sliding Harry into his arms. Louis wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, burying his face into Harry's curls.

"He's alright, love," Jay soothed, unable to fight the slight chuckle that escaped her lips at her son's concern. "See? He's not hurt."

"He could have died!" Louis sobbed pathetically.

"No," his mother laughed gently. "I don't think he could have, dear."

"But-" Louis tried desperately. "W-what would I do if he had? If he ever does?"

"You can't think like that, love," Jay stroked her son's hair soothingly. "Besides. You wouldn't let that happen anyway. I know you. You're my brave, caring, boy."

Harry wasn't crying anymore, but was instead trying to pull away from Louis to pat away the tears that were on the older boy's face.  Louis released his tight grip on Harry, but still left him seated in his lap. He nodded his head. He would make sure Harry was always safe. It was his job since he was older than the tiny boy, "I'll always take care of you, Hazza. Even if you are stupid and you shut yourself in toy chests." Harry giggled and tried to wiggle off of Louis lap, taking him by his hand so they could go back to the toy chest. Harry attempted to climb back into it, so Louis pried the lid off of it and carried it away to hide it in case Harry got anymore ideas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louis certainly kept his promise. Even when he was in second grade, and Harry started kindergarten, Louis took care of him. He'd walked with Anne and Harry to Harry's classroom before going to meet his own teacher, and he promised Harry he'd see him at recess. When all of the classes went outside after lunch, Louis scanned the kindergarten side of the playground for the familiar set of curls. The seperate grades weren't exactly supposed to mix together, but the teachers allowed it if games didn't get too rough. Louis spotted the curly boy as he was dashing at Louis and flinging himself into his arms.

"Boo!" he trilled happily in his high squeaky voice.

"Harry," Louis sighed but returned the hug. "I told you that you can't call me that here," Louis pulled back to look at Harry, who now had his bottom lip poking out in a pout. Louis rolled his eyes, "Fine... I guess you can call me that if you want to."

"What is most fun to play on here, Boobear?" Harry asked curiously as he reached for Louis' hand.

Louis took Harry's slightly sticky hand in his own, used to the feeling, and led Harry around the playground, "The swings are fun, but you have to know how to swing by yourself. Don't let anyone push you, okay? Some people aren't very nice pushers and you might get hurt."

"Will you push me?" Harry asked.

"Maybe another time," Louis promised before continuing on with the tour. "The tunnel slide is alright, but kids like to make slide trains in it and then people get kind of squished. Just make sure it's empty before you go down, and don't let anyone go down after you until you're out of it," Louis explained, and Harry nodded. "The monkey bars... can you do monkey bars, Hazza?"

"I don't know," Harry said uncertainly.

"I'll show you," Louis told him, leaving him to stand at the ladder to the bars as he shimmied up it and then crossed them in an agile manner.

Harry watched for a moment before carefully climbing the ladder. Louis came to stand next to Harry as Harry reached out slowly and grabbed a hold of one of the bars. However, his hand slipped, and he toppled forward, managing to catch himself before he fell into the wood chips below, "You made it look so easy..."

"That's alright Harry," Louis held his hand out to Harry nervously, wanting him to climb down. "We can try another time. Maybe on some shorter monkey bars that aren't so high up."

Harry climbed down and took Louis' hand back in his own again. At that moment, a few of the second grade boys in Louis' class rushed over. Most of them were a bit too hyper for Louis' liking, but they could be fun sometimes.

"Hey, Lou!" one of the boys exclaimed. "Come play pirates with us!"

"Alright, be there in a second," Louis nodded before gazing down at Harry. "Will you be alright on your own now?"

Harry paled excessively, "Can't I play with you?"

Louis was a tad nervous that his friends would be too rough while playing pirates with Harry, but he nodded his head slowly, "You can be on my team."

"Okay!" Harry agreed happily.

When Louis led the smaller boy over towards his friends, one of the snottier boys, Timmy, scowled, "Why are you bringing that baby with you?"

Harry's face crumpled, and he tried to pull away from Louis to walk away, but Louis simply wrapped an arm around him and scowled at the mean kid, "He's not a baby. His name is Harry and he's my friend."

"No, we're your friends," another kid pointed out.

"Well I've known him longer and he's going to be on my team. Are we playing pirates or not, Timmy?" Louis put his free hand on his hip.

The Timmy shrugged, holding up a stick, "Fine, but he doesn't get a sword."

"He doesn't need one," Louis shrugged sassily. "He's just as tough without one."  Harry looked up at Louis almost fearfully, but Louis was suddenly leading him underneath the slide, "Okay Haz," Louis explained. "This is our secret hide out. It's where we keep our treasure," he made a small pile of wood chips. "I'm going to go out and try to steal more treasure. Can you stay here and watch the stuff we have?"  Harry nodded, and Louis grinned, "I'll be right back then!"

And with that, Louis was dashing away and leaving Harry to hide under the slide. After a few minutes of waiting for Louis to come back, Harry spotted the mean kid, Timmy, from earlier, the one who hadn't wanted Harry playing with them. Timmy was dashing up, and stopping in front of Harry.

"Give me your treasure!" he demanded.

"No!" Harry gasped, darting in front of he and Louis' wood chip pile. "It's mine!"

The mean boy kicked more wood chips at Harry, getting some in his face and making him yelp and rub at his eyes, "Babies aren't supposed to play this game!" And then Timmy was jabbing Harry in the arm quite roughly with the stick he held, and Harry toppled over backwards in surprise. As the older kid scooped up he and Louis' wood chip pile and ran, Harry tried desperately not to cry. He pulled his sleeve up slightly, glancing at his injury. He had a long scratch that was already starting to ooze blood. At the sight of his injury, Harry couldn't stop the sob that escaped his throat. He had wood chip dust in his scratch and it stung quite badly.

"Harry?" came Louis' concerned voice. "Harry are you okay?"

"Yes," Harry whimpered, rubbing desperately at his eyes to make his tears go away as Louis crawled underneath the slide. "They took our treasure... I'm sorry."

Louis took Harry's small arm gently into his grasp and examined the scratch, "It wasn't your fault. They cheated. Let's go get you a band-aid."

"Don't you want to finish playing pirates?" Harry sniffled.

"No, I don't want to play with them anymore," Louis turned and scowled in the direction of the other boys.

"Okay," Harry whimpered.

Louis offered him his hand, and gently pulled Harry out from under the slide so they could go talk to the teachers. Louis got permission to escort Harry to the nurse, and he stood in the nurse's office and held Harry's hand as he got his scrape cleaned.

"You're a very nice boy to be helping someone younger than you. Most boys your age are too busy playing," the nurse told Louis.

"Harry's my best friend," Louis said simply.

"I am?" Harry squeaked, looking up at Louis hopefully.

"Yeah," Louis assured him.

As the nurse got out the peroxide, Harry gasped and his grip on Louis' hand tightened, "Is that the stingy stuff?"

Louis gave the younger boy an apologetic look but nodded, "You need it so your cut doesn't get all icky."

"Like... like an injection?" Harry asked curiously.

"Infection," Louis corrected. "But you were close."

The nurse chuckled at the young boys, wetting a cotton ball with peroxide and reaching for Harry's arm. Harry winced as she dabbed at his cut, and let out a small shriek when the liquid begin to bubble over his wound, "It's eating my skin! It's eating it!"

"No, no," Louis assured him. "It's eating the germs!"

"Are you sure?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Yeah! That's how you know it's working! It bubbles," Louis reached up to play with Harry's hair.

"It stings," the younger boy pouted.

"But it's worth it cause there's bubbles," Louis insisted.

"Yeah... okay," Harry agreed.

The nurse placed a red band-aid over Harry's scratch and smiled fondly at the two boys, "Recess is over now, so you all can go back to your classroom's. Your arm is all better now, Harry."

"Thank you," Louis told her helping Harry jump down from the stool he was sitting on. "Come on Hazza. I'll walk you back to your class."

As they stopped outside Harry's classroom door, Harry turned and flung his arms around Louis' waist, "Thank you, Boobear."

"You're welcome Hazza. I'll see you after school, okay?" Louis hugged the smaller boy back.

When Louis got back to his own classroom they were working on arts and crafts. Timmy sneered as Louis sat down at his table, "Did you take the cry baby to the nurse?"

"Be quiet, Timmy," Louis snapped.

"What? It's not my fault you're friends with a cry baby!"

Louis smacked his fist down onto the table, "Harry is not a cry baby! Stop!"

"He's weird, too," Timmy continued. "He never talks."

"Why would he talk to you?" Louis growled. "You're just mean!"

"Oh well," Timmy shrugged. "He's a dumb baby, so maybe he'll get runned over by a bus or something."

Louis was out of his chair in an instant and tackling Timmy to the floor, "Take it back! You take that back right now!"

"Help!" Timmy screeched.

Their teacher quickly strode over and yanked Louis off of Timmy, "Louis Tomlinson! Go to the principal's office right this instant!"

Louis glared at Timmy but nodded his head, "Yes ma'am."

Louis had to sit in the office for the rest of the day, and was given a letter to take home to his mother. When it was finally time to go home, Louis left the office to go stand in line for his bus. Because they were neighbors, Harry rode the same bus as him, and Louis scanned the heads around him in search for the small curly boy. As the busses before his pulled away, Louis remembered what Timmy had said, and a small ball of fear built up in the pit of his stomach. Harry was too smart to walk out in front of a bus... right? Much to his relief, Louis saw Harry's teacher walking Harry over to the bus line. When Harry spotted to Louis, his face broke into a dimpled grin, and Louis couldn't help but return the smile.

Harry raced into Louis' arms the moment he was close enough to leave his teacher. He gave the woman a slight wave, "Bye Miss. Ratliff!"

Louis patted Harry's head before releasing the hug, "Hello, Harry."

"Hi Boo!" Harry grinned, hopping up and down excitedly. "I made a new friend! Her name's Lilly!"

"That's cool," Louis tried to look happy, but he was actually afraid of what his mum and stepfather would say when he showed them the note he'd received.

Harry quickly caught on that Louis was upset, and when they boarded the bus and Harry sat down next to Louis, he scooted close so he could rest his head on the older boy's shoulder, "What's the matter?"

Louis shook his head, "Don't worry about it."

"Are you sad?" Harry pressed.

"No."

Harry sat up, his hands coming up to twirl one of his curls like he did when he was nervous, "What do you want to play when we get to your house?"

"I probably can't play," Louis told him.

Harry frowned, "But if you can?"

" _Harry_ ," Louis sighed.

The younger boy flinched. Very rarely did Louis get irritated with him, "Sorry..."

Harry was silent for the rest of the bus ride, and Louis felt a tad guilty. Harry was still going to be at Louis' house for a while though until his mum got home from work, so Louis had plenty of time to apologize. Harry was quiet as he followed Louis up the steps and into the house. Louis left Harry in the living room and entered the kitchen to find his mum feeding his baby sister Lottie. Lottie had been born when Louis was in first grade, and Louis still wasn't sure what to think of her. She didn't do much yet, and cried anytime Louis wanted to hold her. Harry, on the other hand, thought Lottie was the coolest thing ever and was always asking what he could and couldn't feed the baby.

Mark was seated at the table as well, reading a newspaper. He glanced up at Louis as he entered, "Hello, son. How was your first day of school?"

"I got sent to the principal's office," Louis said, immediately getting the news off his chest.

That got both of his parents attention, "On the first day of school?"

"Yes... I have a letter I need you guys to sign," Louis guiltily opened his bag and handed the sheet of paper to his stepfather.

"What did you _do_ Louis?" Jay asked.

"I tackled Timmy Benjamin out of his chair," he said, looking at the floor.

"Why on earth did you do that?" his stepfather sighed.

"He was making fun of Harry."

His mother and stepfather shared a knowing look, "Ahh... what did he say?"

"He said," Louis sucked in a large gulp of air. "That Harry was a stupid baby and that he hoped Harry got run over by a bus. Only he didn't even say run, he said runned! Because he's stupid, Harry's not! Harry is the nicest, smartest-"

"Easy Louis!" his stepfather soothed. "I know what Timmy said wasn't very nice at all, and I'm proud of you for sticking up for your friend, but next time just tell the teacher, okay? Don't tackle Timmy out of his seat."

"Okay Dad," Louis nodded, looking at his feet.

Harry poked his head in through the kitchen door, "Boo?"

"Hi Hazza," Louis smiled.

"Will you come play trains with me until my mummy gets here?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Louis said, trying to make it up to the curly boy for his behavior from before.

So Louis' parents weren't too mad that Louis had gotten sent to the office since he was defending Harry, and Timmy didn't object, when Louis finally agreed to play with them at recess again, having Harry join their game. He even let Harry have his own sword.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry and Louis only grew closer over the years, and they were with one another every step of the way. Through every illness and injury, one was always at the other's side. When Louis was 12 and Harry was 9, the two were playing at a neighbor's house down the road from their own houses. Harry, even though Louis had insisted that Harry should let him do it because he was older, had climbed up into a tree to try and get their ball down. However, on the way back down, Harry toppled to the ground and managed to knock himself out in the process.

"Harry!" Louis shrieked, flinging himself at the younger boy and gently shaking the unconscious lad. "Harry wake up!"

The other little boy, Robbie, that was playing with them sprinted into the house to get his mother. Louis wasn't having any of that, however, and he scooped Harry up into his arms, running him all the way back to his own house. Jay was putting the most recent baby, one year old Felicity, down for a nap when Louis burst into the house in hysterics. Jay removed Harry from Louis' arms and lay him down on the couch after sending Lottie to her room with a book. She checked the boy over, making sure he was still breathing. Once she was certain Harry was simply unconscious, she called an ambulance and then called Anne.

The entire time Louis was pacing behind his mother and sobbing, "Will he be alright? Is he okay?"

"Calm down, Louis!" Jay finally said, opening her arms up for the sobbing boy to give him a hug. "He should be okay... he'll just have a headache when he wakes up," but Louis could tell that she was worried

Louis simply denied the hug, but went to kneel down next to Harry as his mother went to call his stepfather. He gently took the boy's hand in his own petting it with his thumb, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have let you climb that tree."

A few minutes before the ambulance arrived, Harry woke up, pulling his hand from Louis' to cover his eyes, "Head hurts... too bright."

"Mum!" Louis yelled out in a panic.

"No," Harry whimpered. "Now s'too loud."

"Sorry," Louis breathed as his mum walked quickly into the room.

"Harry?" she asked gently, kneeling down next to the young boy. "How do you feel?"

"Head hurts," Harry repeated.

"Do you want me to turn off the lights?" Jay asked him.

"Dunno... head hurts," Harry whined.

"Mmm... You probably have a slight concussion," Jay said, although it wasn't necessarily directed towards the young boy.

"He what?" Louis asked frantically. "Is it bad?"

"It's just a small injury to his head," his mother explained. "The ambulance will make it better when they get here."

"So he'll be okay?" Louis asked desperately.

"Yes, love, he should be fine," Jay walked to the door to open it and look for the ambulance.

Louis leaned down and pressed his lips gently to Harry's forehead, "I wish I could kiss your head better..."

"Yeah," Harry mumbled weakly. "Head hurts..."

"I know," Louis said sadly.

Eventually two ambulance workers, who looked quite scary to Louis, came and put Harry on a stretcher before they carried him to the ambulance. Anne had arrived next door just before the ambulance left, so she was able to ride with Harry to the hospital. As soon as they took Harry out of Louis' sight, Louis burst into tears again.

"We'll go see him once Anne tells us that Harry can have visitors," Jay had promised. "Now we should probably eat supper..."

"I'm not hungry," Louis had whimpered before sulking off to his room. Louis cried himself to sleep that night, feeling too sick to his stomach with worry to eat any food. The next day, when Jay came to wake Louis up, the first thing to leave Louis' mouth was, "Harry?"

"He's home," Jay soothed. "Anne says you can go see him before you go to school."

Jay had never seen her son move so fast. He was on his feet in an instant, shedding out of his pajamas and tugging clothes on before he sprinted into the bathroom to brush his teeth. When Louis ran past Mark in the kitchen, his stepfather called out, "Hold up there son! Take this granola bar with you. You didn't eat dinner last night."

Louis groaned, but dashed back to take the granola bar from his stepfather before he grabbed his stuff out of the living room and raced out of the house, sprinting next door. Louis knocked on the door of Harry's house, setting his stuff carefully on the porch.

Anne opened the door, "Come on in, Louis. Harry's in the living room. You'll have to be quiet though, okay? He can't be around loud sounds."

Louis nodded frantically and dashed past Anne and into the house that he had memorized. Louis indeed found Harry in the living room. He was seated on the couch doodling on a piece of paper. Louis stopped in the doorway to the living room and whispered, "Harry..."

Harry's head raised up, and he smiled at Louis and patted the sofa next to him, "Hi, Boo!"

Louis shakily walked over and sat down next to Harry, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Harry assured him, dropping his drawing utensils so he could lean into Louis. "I'm sleepy though..."

"How are you sleepy?" Louis whispered in disbelief. "You were passed out!"

"But I woke up, remember?" Harry explained. "I don't really remember that part myself. I think I was on your couch... but I haven't been able to sleep since then. Things have gotten more clearer than they were then though. I should be able to sleep later on today." 

"Oh..." Louis breathed. "Harry...?"

"Yeah, Lou?" Harry replied.

"Can I hug you?" he whimpered.

"Always!" Harry chuckled, throwing his arms around the older boy and nuzzling into his chest.

Harry had to stay home for a couple of days, but when Louis got home he'd go straight over to Harry's and keep him company. Harry couldn't really move around a lot or watch the telly or anything since the doctor had advised him not to, but Louis still sat with Harry and read to him, or they took turns drawing pictures.

Several months later, Harry did the same thing for Louis when Louis had to get his tonsils removed. At first, Harry had been confused and afraid for his friend when Anne told him that Louis had to have a minor surgery to get his tonsils taken out. Once he got to visit Louis after the surgery, Harry had burst into tears when Louis couldn't respond to him vocally. He thought that Louis wasn't going to be able to talk again _ever,_ and Louis had tugged the sobbing younger boy onto his bed with him and petted his curly hair. Once Harry had calmed down enough, Louis wrote to him on a piece of paper and explained everything. That entire week Harry sat with Louis whenever he would return home from school, and they would write notes, watch the telly, and eat ice cream.

Once when the boys were taking turns writing notes to one another, Harry messily wrote out in his 9 year old hand writing: _Did u know that ur my best friend?_

Louis had smiled and scrawled back: _Yeah, Haz. Best friends forever._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

However, when Louis was in 8th grade and Harry was in 5th, Louis already knew that it was considered uncool to have a 5th grader as a friend. You could have high school kids as friends, people your own age, and maybe 7th graders, but that was it. So whenever Harry would see Louis in the hall and would wave enthusiastically at him, Louis would give him a quick smile and then walk away as fast as he could. Harry was confused by Louis' actions, and decided to bring it up at his house, where they'd begin going more recently since Louis had two new twin sisters, Daisy and Phoebe, along with his other little sisters Lottie and Fizz. There were just too many girls in the Tomlinson house for Harry and Louis to have fun.

So as they were sprawled out on Harry's living room floor playing video games on the Friday after their first week of school, Harry asked, "Why don't you ever wave back at me in school?"

"Oh..." Louis mumbled. "Uhh... It's not exactly cool for an 8th grader to have a 5th grade friend, Haz."

Louis watched as Harry's face fell and he nodded, "Oh. Okay."

"It's not me Harry!" Louis insisted. "It's the other boys!"

"Alright," Harry said. "I'm gonna go do homework. You can keep playing if you want."

"Homework?" Louis asked skeptically. "On the first week of school?"

Harry shrugged and walked out of the room, thankful that Louis couldn't see him rubbing the hurt tears out of his eyes. Louis left Harry's house early that night, and the next Monday of school, he didn't sit next to Harry on the bus on the way to school or on the ride home. The rest of the week was miserable for the two boys. They went straight home after school each day without even saying goodbye to one another since Harry didn't need to go over to Louis' to be babysat anymore. Finally, on the second Saturday after their fight, Louis woke up to something sinking onto the end of his bed.

He sat up, expecting one his little sisters, but instead was greeted by a kid with curly locks, "Harry?"

"Your mum let me in," Harry nodded, playing with the comforter on Louis' bed while his other hand twirled a curl nervously around his finger.

The boys sat in silence for a few moments before Harry shivered, and Louis bit his lip, "Are you cold?"

Harry shrugged, "A little."

Louis slowly lifted the corner of his blanket up, "Want to... want to come up here with me?"

Harry was instantly scrambling up the bed and underneath the duvet, curling up against Louis, "Thanks."

"Geez!" Louis laughed, pulling the boy into a hug. "You _are_ cold!"

Harry simply nodded against Louis' collarbone, happy to be near the older boy again. Harry, who was going through a growth spurt, was nearly taller than Louis now, yet he still was able to curl himself up to fit the way Louis was laying. After a few minutes of silence, Harry finally spoke up.

"Boobear... I guess if you don't want to be my friend at school that's okay, but can we still be friends at home?" Harry asked hopefully.

"We're always going to be friends Harry," Louis promised. "I've told you this since we were little."

"We still are little," Harry laughed.

"No _you're_ still little. I'm almost in high school now," Louis said smugly.

"Well _I'm_ nearly taller than you," Harry giggled.

"Out of my bed!" Louis proclaimed dramatically, pushing Harry away. "Out of it right now!"

Harry laughed, latching onto Louis to prevent himself from tumbling backwards, "No! I take it back, I take it back!"

"Good," Louis snorted, letting Harry snuggle back up to him again.

"I wonder if I'll ever be taller than you though..." Harry began, and with that, Louis was pushing him out of his bed and onto the floor.

"You'll pay for that Tomlinson!" Harry bellowed, leaping up to his feet to chase a cackling Louis, who was sprinting off the bed and out of the room.

From then on, Louis always made sure to wave at Harry in school, and he waved just as enthusiastically as Harry did. Whenever his friends questioned it, he'd always respond with, "He's been my best friend since I was 5. I think I'm allowed to be his best friend still."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Louis was a sophomore in high school and Harry was in 7th grade, Harry heard his mother talking to Louis' mum about their relationship.

"They've always been so close... now that they're older, I'm surprised it hasn't escalated into more," his mum said.

"I know what you mean," Jay nodded. "Louis has always been a very unique boy. He's more prone to showing emotion than the others... dresses differently, too. It's his humor that allows him to fit in with all of them still. But anyway... I've always kind of expected that he and Harry would end up as more than friends one day."

"It will probably happen in high school...there's still time," Anne chuckled. "Besides... Harry spends all of his time with Louis anyway. He's got other friends... friends that are good friends... but Louis is his overall _best_ friend."

"I couldn't think of anyone better for Louis than Harry," Jay laughed in return.

Harry had run straight to Louis, "Our mum's think we're going to _date!"_

Louis had looked taken aback, "Why on earth would they think that?"

"I don't know! But I know that I like girls...you're just my best friend!" Harry said, shaking his head.

"I... I think I like girls..." Louis frowned.

"You think?" Harry asked.

"Well yeah, I mean... I've kissed them before, but I mean... they're... they're girls," Louis said, unable to explain what he meant.

"What's it feel like to kiss someone?" Harry asked suddenly, still an innocent 7th grader.

"Well all my kisses have been boring," Louis said, scrunching up his nose. "I'm probably just really bad at it."

"But how does it work really? Do you _ask_ to kiss someone, or do you just do it?" Harry pushed curiously.

"You could probably do either," Louis told him.

"Oh... okay," Harry nodded, and then before Louis knew it, Harry was kissing Louis. Only in his haste, he kind of missed Louis' mouth and ended up kissing the corner of it.

"Harry!" Louis laughed. "What are you doing?"

"I wanted you to be my first kiss!" Harry pouted. "Only I kind of messed it up..."

"Don't worry, Haz," Louis laughed. "That wasn't your first kiss. I would've had to kiss you back."

"Oh," Harry frowned. "Umm... _would_ you be my first kiss?"

"Maybe when you're in high school," Louis told him. "That's when my first kiss was."

"What if you have a girlfriend then?" Harry asked.

"Are you asking for a kiss or a relationship?" Louis teased, reaching out to ruffle Harry's curls.

"I'll take what I can get!" Harry teased back, flinging himself at Louis. "Kiss me, Boobear!"

Louis laughed, trying to pry Harry's grabbing hands off of him. Little did they know, their mothers had been quietly watching the small scene, and were giving one another knowing looks. Yet according to the two boys, they were still just friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louis did have a girlfriend by the time Harry was a freshman and Louis was a senior, but it didn't matter because Harry got his first kiss from a sophomore girl who had a thing for boys with curly hair. Louis would always high five Harry when they passed in the hallway with a, "Hey Haz!"

And Harry would respond with a, "Yo, Boo!"

The students were amused by the two's friendship, even Timmy Benjamin, who had hated that Louis hung out with Harry when they first knew each other in 2nd grade.  It was well known that the Harry and Louis were close, and if one of the other student's tried to call them by their nicknames, they'd give the person a playful shove and say, "Don't call me that!" Only they were allowed to call one another by their nicknames.

Harry and Louis spent every single moment out of school together, driving around to go out to eat or just hanging out around their houses. Louis' girlfriend, Taylor, was pretty much the only one who didn't like Harry. She claimed that if Louis was spending time with him, then that was time that Louis could have been spending with her. So Louis apologized to Harry, but started trying to hang out a bit more with Taylor. Harry had been going through a numerous amount of girlfriends, but always broke it off with them after a couple weeks.

Harry eventually realized why he couldn't seem to fall for any girls. It was because he'd already fallen someone, probably much earlier than he realized. Louis. Harry loved Louis. Yet Louis was a senior, and had a girlfriend, and they were supposed to be best friends, so Harry couldn't exactly drop this bomb on Louis now. If only he had known what he wanted back in 7th grade when he'd tried to kiss Louis.

Louis had just always been there, ever since Harry could remember... or remember well at least. Louis was the one who  held his hand when he met his kindergarten teacher for the first time, had been there when he first learned to ride a bike without training wheels... and Louis had always been looking out for him, too. In fact, Louis still looked out for him. Every now and then, Louis' senior friends would joke with Harry that his curls made him look too girly, and each time Louis would shoot a swift punch to their ribs.

"Your curls are perfect, Haz," he'd roll his eyes. "Ignore the bastards."

It wasn't like Louis didn't love Harry... Louis would always shoot the sentiment back at Harry if Harry said it to him... it just didn't quite mean the same thing.

"I love you Louis," Harry had said to him one day, snuggling up to him as they sat on Harry's couch for a movie night with just them two. Harry was slightly taller than the older boy, much to Louis' dismay, but that didn't stop him from worming his way into Louis' arms whenever he got the chance.

"And I love you!" Louis had chuckled, flinging his arms around Harry.

So Harry dealt with Louis dating Taylor... it was painful when Louis would leave him to be with her, but she was his girlfriend after all, and Harry would take any time that he could get with Louis. Besides, Louis would be going off to college next fall, which Harry was absolutely dreading, and he wouldn't get to see him except for on holidays and the rare weekend.

Finally, Harry built up the nerve to make a slight move towards more than friends with Louis. He asked him to go to the homecoming dance with him. He didn't necessarily do anything cute in order to ask him... he figured it might be too weird, and instead he just asked him one day when they were walking to Harry's car after school. Louis had slid into the driver's seat like he always did, considering he could drive but didn't have a car of his own, and Harry was always more than willing to let Louis do what he wanted. If Louis was happy then Harry was happy.

"Boo," Harry had said as he reached to turn down the radio as they drove. "Would you want to go to the homecoming dance with me?"

"Isn't it kind of implied that you're going with my group, Haz?" Louis chuckled. "I mean come on, you're my best friend!"

"I know, Lou, but I mean like..." Harry squirmed slightly, his hand coming up to twirl a curl around his finger. "Would you go to homecoming _with_ me."

" _Ohh_ ," Louis finally caught on and pondered it for a moment. "It would be fun Haz... but I think I kind of have to go with Taylor, y'know? She is my girlfriend, after all."

"Right," Harry nodded. "Sorry..."

"Aww," Louis frowned, reaching over to tap underneath Harry's chin gently. "Chin up, love! Don't be like that! We'll have just as much fun in our group!"

Harry nodded, letting himself be comforted that he would still be _somewhat_ going to the dance with Louis, "Yeah... you're right!"

"That's the spirit!" Louis chuckled.

When the night of the dance rolled around, Harry ended up in a separate car than Louis' on the way to the dance. It wasn't like he didn't know the people, they were friends with both him and Louis, but he had been hoping that he'd get to ride with Louis. To make matters worse, he was pretty sure the senior boy that was driving was drunk. His guess had been right, and was confirmed when the boy was swerving around on the highway. Harry knew that what was going on was extremely dangerous, and considered asking the boy to pull off at the next exit so he could get out and call his mum, or Louis, or _someone_ who could come get him. But he never got the chance. The boy somehow missed that the car in front of them was breaking until the last second, and had to swerve to miss ramming into them. Yet there wasn't much room to swerve, and the car hit the guard rail, flipped over it, and went skidding upside down into the next lane of oncoming traffic. Cars slammed on their breaks, managing to narrowly escape hitting the upside down car.

At the dance, about thirty minutes after the accident happened, Louis got a call on his phone from one of the guys in the car.

"Louis," the guy croaked. "We can't make it to the dance, mate."

"What?" Louis asked in confusion, stepping out of the noisy gym he was in so he could hear better. "Why can't you come?"

"Brett was driving drunk. He crashed the car, I- I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who remained conscious. I'm at the hospital now."

Louis let the boy's words sink into his head, "Do you know if everyone's alright?"

"That's... that's pretty much the main reason I'm calling, Lou," the boy said hesitantly. "I have the okay on everyone except for Harry... I guess he could be pretty bad, but I don't know. I don't see his family here so I can't ask about him."

Louis felt his heart stop. He'd completely forgotten that the younger boy had been in that car. How had he been so stupid as to let Harry be separated from himself? And now Harry was hurt. Possibly badly.

"Oh God," Louis whispered. "What hospital?"

"Huh? Are you... are you going to leave the dan-"

"What hospital, damn it?!" he was already sprinting through the parking lot, searching for the car of his friend's he had drove. He could care less if they didn't have a ride home after the dance, he had to get to Harry.

"Clover Valley..."

Louis hung up his phone, forcing it into the pocket of his tuxedo. He went over the speed limit by massive numbers, making it to the hospital in less than 15 minutes. As he sprinted into the building and up to the front desk, he was informed that since he wasn't family, he couldn't get any information on Harry. Which probably meant Harry really was hurt badly. Louis didn't know what else to do besides stumble back towards the chairs in the waiting room and bury his face into his hands. He was supposed to take care of the younger boy. He should have had Harry with him instead of making him ride in the car with the other guys.

Louis finally realized that he needed to call Anne, and then Anne could come and get information about Harry. Louis could find out about his curly boy that way. With shaky fingers, Louis scrolled through his contacts list. Anne was second, right after Harry. Louis had typed an exclamation point before the boy's name so that he would always be first in his phone.

"It's because you'll always be first in my heart, Hazza!" he'd told Harry when the younger boy had questioned his sanity. So Harry had went and done the same to Louis' name in his own phone.

After the second ring, Anne picked up her phone, "Yes Louis?"

And Louis wouldn't have been able to stop his tears even if he tried, "Oh Anne!" he sobbed. "You have to come to Clover Valley hospital. It- It's Harry. He's hurt, and it's all my fault."

"What happened Louis?" Anne asked, her tone anxious. "Is he alright?"

"I don't know!" he sobbed harder. "They won't tell me anything!"

"Alright, Louis," Anne soothed. "I'm coming, okay? Can you tell me what happened?"

"A... a car accident I t-think," Louis whimpered. "Harry didn't ride in the same car as me because I'm the worst best friend ever and now he's hurt and I just-" Louis burst into tears again.

"Louis!" Anne hushed. "I'm on my way now. How did the car accident happen? Do you know?"

Louis bit back another sob and croaked out, "One of the people in the car said that Brett, the driver, was drunk."

"Ah," he heard Anne murmur, and knew instantly that she was worried now. She now realized that it hadn't been just a small accident.

"I'm so sorry!" Louis gurgled,  using the hand that wasn't holding his phone to his ear to cover his face.

"Louis?" Louis' head snapped up at a voice that wasn't Anne's. His eyes, with tears still spilling over, took in the face of Timmy, the well known boy who had more than likely called him.

"What do you want?" he groaned.

"Do you have someone to sit with you now, Louis?" Anne asked.

"Yes, Anne, but please, don't-" Louis begin frantically.

"Okay Louis," Anne soothed. "I'll stay on the phone."

"Are you alright, mate?" Timmy asked, sitting down slowly next to Louis and reaching out to pat his arm.

"You're not hurt at all?" Louis asked him, trying and failing to wipe away his tears.

"I've got some whiplash," Timmy said. "But I was in the middle of Harry and Chris."

"And Harry," Louis started, his lower lip trembling. "He-"

"I don't know, Louis, I didn't see him," Timmy said. "The entire crash is just one big blur. The doctor's say it's kind of like a form of shock... it's not dangerous for me, but my mind is trying to block out the crash."

"I just hope he's okay," Louis wheezed.

Timmy patted Louis' knee, "I know... I know you care a lot about him. I bet he'll be alright."

"Thanks, Tim."

"I'm pulling into the parking lot, Louis," Anne said, reminding Louis that he was still on the phone. "I'm going to hang up now."

Louis made a sound that let Anne know he understood, and then he waited for her to walk through the sliding doors. The second she entered the hospital Louis was launching himself at her for a tight hug and sobbing again into her neck, "S'all my fault!"

"It's not, Louis," she insisted, patting Louis' back. "Come on, let's go see how Harry is."

Louis followed Anne like a puppy up to the main desk, and waited as Anne confirmed that she was Harry's mother. The nurse gave Anne a room number, saying it lowly so that Louis couldn't hear it. Anne however, beckoned Louis to follow as she began walking towards one of the halls. Louis raced after her, taking Anne's hand fearfully in his own like a small child would do. Anne led Louis down a few halls before turning into a room that had the sound of a telly coming from it. Louis bit his lip nervously, terrified that the room wasn't going to contain a kid with curly hair, but was going to have a grim doctor waiting to inform them that Harry wasn't with them any longer.

A whimper escaped Louis' lips without his permission, and then they stepped completely into the room. Louis' eyes fell on Harry, who was very much alive, and looked slightly irritated as he pressed the hospital phone next to the bed he sat on to his ear. Harry glanced up at them, and then slammed the phone back onto it's dock noisily.

"Well _there_ you are! I've only been trying to contact the both of you from this crappy piece of phone for the past thirty minutes!" Harry ranted. "I'll have you know, that if I had been far more injured, then you guys probably wouldn't have even gotten to know, because _some_ people don't know how to answer their pho-"

Louis cut Harry off mid-rant with a sob, and he launched himself at the curly boy, yanking him non-to-gently into his arms. Harry froze, confused as to why Louis was so upset. He looked to his mother for assistance, but Anne simply smiled at the two boys.

"Boo?" Harry squeaked.

"Oh Hazza I'm so glad you're okay!" Louis sobbed. "I thought you were hurt! I thought you were hurt really bad!"

"Shouldn't you be at the dance?" Harry asked, but his hands came up to hug Louis back.

"I was at the dance but then Timmy called and he told me you guys were in a car accident so I came here as soon as I could, and they wouldn't let me see you, and all I knew was that you might have been in a really bad condition!" Louis rambled his teary story into Harry's hair.

"Where'd you hear I was supposed to be in a bad condition?" Harry asked gently, carding his own hands through Louis' feathery brown hair.

"Timmy. He told me," Louis whimpered.

"Timmy is probably stoned or something Louis. Don't listen to that kid. I don't know how he passed the drug test the hospital had us take. Those of us who were in the back are alright. Brett and the other guy in the front have concussions... Brett's probably going to get his license taken away for driving drunk. But luckily I don't have to attend a court session for it! I just can't believe Timmy said I was badly hurt. I just kind of whacked my head on the window, s'all."

 "Well Timmy is just stupid I guess. I thought I was going to lose you or something. Thank God, I'm not!" Louis shuddered.

Before Harry could come up with something to say to what Louis had just told him, Louis' phone rang and he pulled his face out of Harry's hair so he could examine it.

Harry read the screen for him, "It's Taylor. Can I answer it?" Louis sniffled and nodded, but Harry had to worm his arm out from underneath Louis' because Louis refused to let go of him. Harry hit answer and pressed the phone to his ear, "What's up Tay-Tay!"

" _Harry?"_ Taylor exclaimed shrilly from the other line. "Hand the phone to Louis right now!"

"Okay, okay," Harry laughed, pressing the phone to Louis' ear for him. "It's for you! Weird, huh?"

"Hello?" Louis sniffled into the phone.

"Louis!" Taylor screeched so loud that both boys and Anne could hear her. "Why aren't you at the dance! Why are you with Harry?"

"Because if you didn't know Taylor, Harry and some of the other boys got into a wreck. I'm at the hospital with Harry," Louis sighed patiently, and gently removed the phone from Harry's grasp so he could hold it to his ear on his own. Harry set to work wiping tears off of Louis' face, and Louis had a short flashback of a situation quite similar to the one that was happening, taking place when Louis was 5 and Harry was 2.

"Well Harry is obviously fine if he just answered the phone!" Taylor hissed.

"Yeah, well I didn't know that when I left the dance," Louis snapped, growing irritated.

"You should have stayed here at the dance! You could have waited to figure out!" she snarled.

"Um, no, I couldn't have," Louis growled back.

"I don't understand why you care more about that dumb curly freshman than you do about me!" Taylor screamed through the phone.

"Because I love him, okay?" Louis yelled back, equally as loud. "I love him, and he loves me too, _much_ more than you ever will!" and with that, Louis ended the call and turned his phone off.

Harry was staring wide eyed at Louis, and Anne had slipped from the room to go sign Harry out of the hospital. Louis reached forward, gently seizing Harry's face in his hands, "I love you, okay? I love you so much Harry Edward Styles and you probably think I'm crazy because we're supposed to be best friends, and I still love you as my best friend because we've been there for each other since the beginning, but I love you as so much more now, okay? I love you so, so, much."

Harry continued to stare at Louis, wide green eyes meeting honest blue ones, and Harry finally cracked a dimpled grin, "And I love you... so, so much."

Louis ducked down, pushing his lips onto Harry's, and Harry didn't object. He kissed back, his arms coming up to wrap around Louis' neck. To Louis, Harry tasted like the toothpaste he used, and to Harry, Louis tasted like mint and tears. The two were still kissing one another, passionately with a slight frantic touch to it, when Anne walked into the room.

"Not to interrupt this moment," she stated. "But Jay and I so called this."

"Shut up, Mum," Harry pulled away from Louis a tad to laugh before he brushed their lips together again.

So Harry and Louis were not only best friends, but they became much, much more. Louis broke up with Taylor the next time he saw her, and he and Harry continued living their lives like they normally did, just with some... different things added in. Like kissing. Lots and lots of kissing. Louis and Harry still stayed together when Louis went off to college, and luckily Louis was only about thirty minutes away from the boys' home town, so they still got to see one another every weekend. The two had been close, had been there for one another from nearly the very beginning, and they were absolutely certain that they would be there for one another for the rest of their lives. They'd always be Hazza and Boo.


End file.
